Panetta: 12,000 Troops To Stay In Afghanistan After 2014

Panetta had said earlier Friday that U.S. officials were planning to leave troops in all sectors of the country – north, south, east and west – as well as in Kabul. Pentagon officials have said the military has mapped out plans to carry on its mission of training and advising the Afghan forces and also leave a small counterterrorism force to battle insurgents.

When asked, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters Friday that no decision has been made on the size of the post-2014 international force.